


2 AM

by caveyoja



Series: The Family You Choose [1]
Category: Runaways (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2018-03-14
Packaged: 2019-03-31 03:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13966044
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caveyoja/pseuds/caveyoja
Summary: It's 2AM.  Gert wakes up to a drunk Chase knocking on her door wanting to talk  about their relationship.Based on  a head canon where Gert and Chase grew up as best friends - until something scared Chase away.





	2 AM

Judging by how antsy Lace was, she must have been half asleep and hadn’t registered the first time he knocked on her door. She picked up her phone and held it close enough to see the time – 2:00. 

2:00 AM.

She really didn’t want to deal with him right now. He’d been trying to talk to her for weeks, and she’d been avoiding it because she didn’t want to deal with the overwhelming subject of them on top of everything else. Because why start something so obviously doomed to failure? It didn’t matter how she felt about him, or how he might feel about her, because it would end up the same way it had before – with a wall between them and utterly incompatible groups of friends dragging them apart. Because being on the run with their childhood friends? Hopefully that would be over soon. And, when it was over, they would be too. Fish, bird, yadda, yadda, yadda.

He knocked again, and she heard a whining, “Geeeeeerrrrt,” from the other side. Lace shifted her feet nervously and looked up at her imploringly. 

Well...damn. She might be able to resist one of them, but not both when they ganged up on her like that. She got out of bed and wrapped a blanket around herself, because, yes, California deserts got fucking cold at night in the winter, especially when the abandoned motel they were hiding out in didn’t have heat. She made sure the chain was on the door, and opened it a few inches, putting on her best glare. “What?”

Chase looked up at her with a startled expression on his face, “You answered!”

“Nothing gets by you, does it?”

“No – I mean, I...” he took a second to gather his thoughts, and straightened himself up. She caught a whiff of what was probably the last of the whiskey they’d found at the bar when they moved in.

“Have you been drinking?”

Chase’s eyes widened, and he was about to issue a reflexive denial, but closed his mouth when realized it would be futile. He stood up straight, pushed back his shoulders, and declared loudly, “And let me tell you why -”

Gert fumbled with the chain and pulled him into her room before he could go any further. As fucked up as things were between them, the last thing she wanted was to wake up everyone else and be subjected to their opinion of why she should be with Chase, especially when they weren’t the ones who would have to pick up the pieces after he left.

Chase stood in the middle of her room, with a dopey expression on his face as he absently scratched Lace at the base of her tail. “What do you want, Chase?” she asked tiredly.

Chase turned around to face her, dropping his hand from Lace. The dinosaur whined, and he glanced back at her, half turning so he could continue to scratch her as he spoke to her person. They’d been very clear about that – Gert was not Lace’s owner – she was her person.

Wait – what did he want to say? Crap...he’d had it all put together before she opened the door. If he hadn’t finished off the bottle, he might be able to remember better, but, then again, he wouldn’t have the nerve to do this without a couple of shots. Or maybe more than a couple. He turned to look back at Lace – she liked him, right? And if Lace liked him, that meant Gert must too, right?

Gert watched as he edged closer to Lace. How much had he drunk? His tolerance was pretty high, but even he had his limits. “Chase?” 

Chase spun around at the sound of her voice, and very quickly realized that was a mistake as the room continued to spin around him. 

Gert watched as Chase became very pale and started to sweat – and realized he was about to throw up. She threw off her blanket and shoved him into the bathroom, helping him to the bowl barely in time. She grabbed a washcloth and ran it under cold water, using it to wipe down his face and rubbing a hand over his back.

“Sorry,” he muttered miserably.

She smirked, “Not your finest moment, Jock Jams.”

His lips quirked up in a smile and he leaned into the washcloth she held to his forehead, “Maybe not my smartest move, but it got me alone with you, so I regret nothing.”

She frowned and pulled the washcloth away, watching as Chase closed his eyes and grimaced. “Chase,” she started.

“Look,” he interrupted, speaking quickly to get it all out, “I know you said it was a one time thing, and maybe it was for you, but it wasn’t for me. I have liked you ever since second grade when you punched out Barrett because he kept calling me Chasenstein -” Gert closed her eyes and chuckled, opening them when Chase lifted her chin up and looked into her eyes. “And I know I fucked things up with you when I started hanging out with those assholes, and I am so sorry for that.” Gert opened her mouth to speak, but Chase put a finger over her lips and kept going, “And I get that you don’t want to be with me, but I needed for you to know that for me it wasn’t just hormones or propagating the species or whatever it was you said. Even if we can’t be together like that, I really want to still be your friend. Because I miss you, and I need my best friend back again.”

Gert pulled away from him, her back against the vanity, and watched his eyes follow her. She really did miss him too. She missed the snarky comments whispered back and forth whenever the pretty, popular people were being blissfully, unbearably pretty and popular.. She missed knowing that they had each others backs – that if you came after Stein, you had to deal with Yorkes, and vice-versa. But, when she had really needed him – when everything fell apart after Amy died – he hadn’t been there, and he had turned into one of the pretty popular cretins that used to be on the receiving end of their snark. She wiped away a tear and muttered, “I wasn’t the one who left.”

He leaned his back against the tub, “Yeah. I know. You needed me, and I was so fucked up and in my own world that I abandoned you. I’ve got a pretty impressive list of regrets for 17, but that’s one of the biggest.”

Gert felt her throat closing up, and tried her best to keep from crying even more, “Why did you go? Did you hate me that much?”

Chase’s eyes widened, and he got up on his knees, wrapping his hands around her face, “I never hated you.”

“Then where were you?”

Chase closed his eyes, his hands still holding her face. “I ran away.”

Gert reached up, brushing a tear from his cheek, “From me?”

Chase shook his head, and moved back to the tub, “From everything. I...my Dad – you know?” Gert nodded, “He started in on me, and I was so pissed off -”

“About Alex?”

Chase nodded, “Yeah him and the world in general – I was so angry at pretty much everything that when my Dad hit me, I hit back. And, then my Mom got in the middle of it, and she ended up getting hurt, and the next thing I know my Dad is screaming at me that it’s my fault, so I just got out of there. I couldn’t take it anymore.”

“Why didn’t you come to me?”

Chase shook his head and sniffled, “Are you kidding? I hit my Mom! I thought I was turning in to that bastard. I didn’t want you anywhere near that.”

“But you came back.”

Chase nodded, “My mom found me. Said she needed me at home, and I couldn’t leave her alone with him.”

Gert crossed her arms defensively, “You didn’t come back to me, though.”

“I still thought I was as toxic as he was, and I didn’t want you to end up like my Mom.”

“But you hung out with those assholes?”

Chase shrugged, “I started lifting so I could protect my Mom from him, and I met them at the gym. Yeah, they were assholes, but they were assholes whose parents didn’t lock their liquor cabinets. They were shitty friends, but, when you’re alone, that’s better than nothing, you know?”

Gert nodded and sniffled, looking away for a moment to collect herself. “I thought it was my fault.” Chase narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what she was saying, so she continued, “That you were hanging out with them. I thought you had figured out that I liked you, and that you didn’t like me, so that was your way to get away from me.”

“God, no -”

She held up a hand to stop him, and continued, “I thought I was fat and unpopular and that you wanted someone like Eiffel, and that was why you left. I understand what you’re saying happened, but I still lived through thinking that you had abandoned me because I wasn’t good enough.”

Chase frowned, “And that was around when you started taking the anxiety meds.”

Gert raised an eyebrow, “That wasn’t your fault – it’s a medical condition. I was going to need meds with or without whatever teenage angst I was going through.” Chase nodded, and then sighed, grabbing the washcloth and placing it over his eyes as he tipped his head back. Gert chuckled, “You are going to have such a hangover tomorrow.”

Chase smiled, “It’ll be worth it. I finally told you that I’ve been in love with you since I was seven, and you said you liked me.”

“I used to like you before you left.”

“You had sex with me a couple of weeks ago, so I don’t think you totally hate me now.”

“I thought you said you were ok with just being friends?”

“I am – but you admitted you like me -”

“Liked. Past tense.”

He swept the washcloth off his eyes and looked straight at her, “OK – I’m still drunk enough to ask this - have I totally fucked up any chance we had to be together?”

“You mean as more than just friends?”

“Yeah.”

She looked down and sighed, and heard him groan, knowing he thought she was turning him down. She chuckled, “No – not totally.”

He broke into a smile, “Not totally is good. I can work with that. Just tell me what I need to do, because I’m incredibly bad at figuring that stuff out.”

“I’m going to need some time. I know now why you left, but I’m still working on trusting that you’re going to be around from here on out.”

He smiled and nodded enthusiastically, “Whatever time you need. I’ll follow your lead anywhere you want to go.” He leaned back, still smiling, and put the washcloth back over his eyes.

“Well, “ she whispered, a smirk at the corner of her mouth, “You could spend the night here.” 

Chase raised his head slowly, looking vaguely like a lost puppy, “Wha - “

Gert shook her head, “Just sleeping – nothing more. I kind of missed waking up next to you in the van.”

Chase nodded, “I missed that too,” and started to climb to his feet.

Gert got up and reached into one of her bags, handing him a toothbrush. “Brush first. And – tomorrow you’re cleaning my bathroom.” 

He watched as she walked back to bed and slid under the covers, leaving room for him next to her. They might be on the run, with a superpowered cult leader trying to kill them, and he might be facing a killer hangover tomorrow, but he was happier now than he’d been in years. Because the team of Yorkes and Stein were back together, at least as friends, and maybe he hoped as something more.


End file.
